Tom Talks

Independence and Butler should not play at Bank of America Stadium

    Tonight's Independence-Butler playoff game is big. But it's not big enough to play at Bank of America Stadium. If the game were held there, it would get lost.

   How many fans would show up? Dreamers will invent a number. But if you've been to a Game of the Year at Memorial Stadium, you know how many fans are willing to buy tickets.

   Let's say the game attracts 20,000. One of the stories we'd write, and one of the images fans would take away, is the empty seats.

   I like the idea of holding it at Providence High. Fans will show up early. Tickets will be at a premium. There will be more interest than there is room. All of those factors enhance the atmosphere and make a game feel big.

   Bank of America Stadium is so vast the game would feel small. 

In biggest game of this or any other season, Buffalo wins

   Need to get my NFL pick in before kickoff.

   Buffalo upsets the New York Jets.

   Bills by 4.

   A nation awaits.

Alleged affair is none of our business, but accident is

   If the rumors are true and Tiger Woods is having an affair, that's none of my business. Years ago I ran into a Charlotte Hornet after a game near the Charlotte Coliseum. He was with a woman who was not his wife. He saw me and froze.

   His look said, are you going to write this?

   My look said, it's none of my business.

   Later, there was a celebrity sports divorce in town and a woman called with alleged dirt on the guy going through the divorce. She couldn't believe I wasn't interested. 

   An affair is private. A car accident is public. Not sure what Tiger is thinking by declining to talk to the cops or the media. It could be that so many people treat him as if he's a deity that he believes he is a deity, floating above it all.

   He's wrong. The longer the story lingers, the bigger it becomes and, in some ways, the smaller Tiger becomes.